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George Osborne’s “so-called victory” on Britain’s £1.7 billion EU surcharge is nothing more than a “con trick,” Ed Balls argued yesterday.
The Chancellor claimed to have halved the bill at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels on Friday.
But critics say the reduction resulted simply from factoring in Britain’s rebate, which was always due to be applied.
Responding to Mr Balls’s urgent question, the Chancellor told the Commons it was not clear Britain would receive a rebate, adding that it was extra to any other rebate that would be expected next year.
Mr Osborne reiterated that Britain’s bill had been halved from £1.7bn to £850 million, had been delayed until 2015/16, and would include no interest.
But the Labour frontbencher told MPs that Mr Osborne had failed to reduce Britain’s contribution by a “single penny” and quipped he could barely see Speaker John Bercow because of the Chancellor’s “fog and bluster.”
